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The widow of a young soldier killed by friendly fire in the Iraq war said she can move on after four years of waiting for answers about the tragedy.

Susan Hull wept as a coroner told her 25-year-old Lance Corporal of Horse Matty’s death was “entirely avoidable” and down to the “criminal” actions of an American A-10 Thunderbolt pilot who swooped to attack his armoured vehicle convoy without properly checking its identity or getting permission from ground controllers.

Speaking afterwards, the 30-year-old assistant headteacher said the landmark result meant her quest for justice was finally over. She said she would move on and hoped the pilot who killed her husband, north of Basra in southern Iraq on March 28 2003, and his wingman could too. “I hope that they are at peace in themselves and that they can move on with their lives,” she said.

“I’m sure they are full of remorse for what they did, I hope so, anyway. Perhaps it sends a message to other pilots about how they need to be trained and the enormity of what they’re doing in the sky because it can have grave consequences,” she added.

The inquest made headlines around the world after the Sun newspaper obtained a leaked copy of a secret cockpit recording taken from one of the two A-10 planes circling above L/Cpl Hull’s convoy – a reconaissance patrol of the Windsor-based Household Cavalry Regiment.

The revelation forced the US Government to declassify a transcript of the recording for use by the coroner, a document he said was “vital” in helping him to reach his damning conclusions.

Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker, who has heard the two week-long inquest, slammed the actions of the pilot as akin to manslaughter. He told a packed court: “The attack on the convoy amounted to an assault. It was unlawful because there was no lawful reason for it and in that respect it was criminal. The pilot who opened fire did so with disregard for the rules of engagement and acting outside the protection of the law of armed conflict.”

But the US Department of Defence disagreed, issuing a statement after the verdict claiming the death was a “tragic accident”. A spokesman said: “The (US) investigation determined that the incident took place in a complex combat environment, the pilots followed applicable procedures and processes for engaging targets, believing they were engaging enemy targets, and that this was a tragic accident.” He added that there was no cover-up and the US extended its deepest sympathies to the Hull family.

The US State Department later disputed that L/Cpl Hull’s death was not an honest mistake but a criminal act. “Clearly, we disagree,” said spokesman Sean McCormack. “We would not agree with the characterisation of it as a criminal act.”

Despite the coroner’s assertion that “the full facts have not yet come to light”, Mrs Hull said she sought no more answers and would not push for further action to be taken against the pilots. She said: “There is a strange sense that it is now over. We’ve waited all this time and it is now over. It’s been a long and painful time and we need to move forward.”